Everstream pockets $342.5 million in debt financing

As part of its fiber expansion plan, Everstream lands $342.5 million in debt financing from nine banks. (Pixabay)

In order to help fuel its fiber ambitions in the Midwest, Everstream announced on Monday it has secured $342.5 million in debt financing from nine banks. Cleveland-based Everstream will use the financing to accelerate its 2020 growth strategy, which includes expanding to five new markets while adding more fiber in the existing markets it serves.

The five new Midwest markets include: Chicago, which launched in February; St. Louis, Missouri; Dayton, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Louisville, Kentucky.

For the debt financing, Webster Bank was lead arranger while joint lead arrangers included CoBank, Regions Financial Corp., Fifth Third Bank and TD Bank. AMP Capital, a global investment manager headquartered in Australia, bought Everstream in 2018. As a privately held company, Everstream doesn't say how much funding it has raised to date, and whether it plans additional rounds.

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“We are extremely fortunate to have such a great group of banks support our growth plans during these difficult times,” said Everstream President and CEO Brett Lindsey, in a statement. “Our team’s history of doing what we say we will do provided the confidence to significantly increase our debt facility.”

Everstream has said it plans to spend $250 million over the course of this year to meet its previously stated goal of adding 15,000 miles route miles of fiber. Everstream will open new offices in its five new cities and hire more than 100 employees. Everstream also plans to have 3,000 on-net locations in 12 markets throughout the Midwest by the end of 2020.

Everstream was one of the 12 companies that was recently named to Vertical Systems Group's 2019 Challenge Tier, which was comprised of fiber companies that had between 2,000 and 9,999 fiber-lit commercial buildings in the U.S. as of last year.

As a regional fiber provider, Everstream competes with FiberLight, GTT and CenturyLink, among others.